Flying first-class
Falcons take over conference lead with 4-0 win
| Box Score |

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Notre Dame came away with an impressive 4-0 win Saturday afternoon to vault into first place in the American Mideast Conference North Division. The Falcons defeated Roberts Wesleyan (6-5-1, 2-1 AMC-N) to run their conference mark to 2-0.

Notre Dame (9-2-1, 2-0 AMC-N) started the scoring in the home match with a 30-yarder on a free kick by Danny Bartulovic (Sr/Gates Mills, OH) at 20:44. The Falcons would score two more goals in the first frame to take control of the match by halftime.

Greg Carroll (Jr/Dunfermline, Scotland) found the top-right corner of the net from 16 yards on a misplay in the Raider backfield at 35:13. He was followed five minutes later by James Wood (Barnsley, England), who booted in a penalty kick at 40:31.

Defensively, NDC's Craig Pickering (Newcastle, England) made a couple quality first-half saves to maintain the Notre Dame advantage. The 6-foot-1 netminder from Newcastle, England, made a spectacular, sprawling save on an RWC breakaway by Femi Arogundade (So/London, England) near the end of the first half. Pickering finished the match with eight saves to notch his fifth shutout of the season (third consecutive).

The NDC defense held in the second half to preserve the 4-0 victory over a Roberts squad that came to Korb Field with a 2-0 AMC mark. Nick Jordan (Sr/Mentor, OH) closed out the scoring for the Falcons when he chipped in a rebound off a Bartulovic corner kick at 53:22. The Falcons' four goals marks a season-high yielded by Roberts, who came into Saturday's match with a 1.18 goals-allowed average.

"This was a quality win for us," said Notre Dame Assistant Coach Carl Nolan. "Offensively, we played within ourselves which led to quality scoring opportunities against a good squad."

The win puts NDC in control of the North Division halfway through conference play. The Falcons play three more conference games in Oct. (Daemen-NY, at Point Park-PA, at Malone). The next match for the Blue & Gold is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 10, when they travel to Rio Grande.

Notes from the Nest...

Five for Falcons: Notre Dame has now defeated Roberts five consecutive times, dating back to 2003. NDC now leads the all-time series between the two programs, 5-1-1.

Moving up in rank: The Falcons came into Saturday's match leading the 13-team AMC in scoring and ranked 3rd in goals allowed. Against RWC, they scored four goals. Through 12 matches, NDC is now averaging 2.99 goals per game, while yielding 0.81.

Magnificent seven: Midfielder Greg Carroll scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season Saturday. The junior Scot also leads the Falcons in points (17), shots (47) and shots on goal (17). He came into Saturday's action ranked third in the AMC in scoring.

Men of October: With Saturday's win over RWC, Notre Dame is now 19-5-1 (.780 winning pct.) in their last 25 matches played in the month of October. The Falcons also matched a season-high by picking up their third consecutive victory.